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Mitt Romney’s campaign and the Republican National Committee are focusing heavily on Vice President Joe Biden, hoping the gaffe-prone vice president will turn himself into more of a perceived liability. Biden recently caused an upset in the White House after his comments pushed President Obama to speed up his announcement on gay marriage. He has also stumbled over his message in recent interviews.

Is Biden a ticking time bomb for Obama’s image? Or is the Romney camp wasting time following the vice president’s every move?

Joe Biden has not made any gaffes. He has recently said things he and Obama had hoped to hide from the American people. And his major “gaffe” was when in his own campaign speeches plagiarized the life story of a British politician and claimed it for his own. That is dishonesty, self-delusion and a willingness to say anything. Oh, yes. He also has a potty mouth.

Now what does it say about President Obama’s judgment that his first decision in 2008 was this bad?

So-called Republican strategists like Grover Norquist and the Romney campaign are just wasting their time with the their focus on Vice President Biden.

From my time in the Senate, (21 years) I was able to watching Biden closely, both as a senator and later as Vice President. He is a straight shooter who calls them likes he sees them, and if the failed strategists around the Romany campaign want to try to make hay of that, go ahead, cause it isn’t going to work.

Why won’t it work? Well, among others things, here is one dirty little secret - Biden, unlike Romney, connects with people. When you watch the vice president, you see passion and conviction. When you see Romney, people go "MEH."

The reality is that people don’t like him. So I would urge the Republicans to continue to play their silly little games, because the ability to cause distractions - and raising tons of money by shadowy groups for negative ads, is about all they have going for them right now.

The Romney campaign and the Republican National Committee are positively focused and ready to respond to the personal, misleading attacks Joe Biden is leveling on behalf of the president. But how can it be a waste of time when Biden is so gaffe prone, it's rare to not have something Team Romney can proactively push after each of the VP's interviews or speeches. That's an added bonus - and in sports parlance - it's advantage Romney every time Biden utters an accusatory word.

I hope the Romney campaign makes this the centerpiece of their campaign. Yes, please continue to focus on the VP and all of his credentials that connect him to working class voters - that is a slam-dunk strategy! Except that it’s not. And it won’t work. And it is a waste of time. Joe Biden’s gaffes don’t hold a candle to Romney’s greatest hits reel. What’s more, focusing on Joe Biden brings an even sharper focus on how much Mitt Romney is out of touch with exactly those voters that Joe Biden is so good at communicating with, and without whose support Mitt Romney cannot win.

The Romney camp would be making a grave mistake if they think the Obama campaign does not believe whole-heartedly that Joe Biden is overall a big asset and that he is not tremendously effective as a surrogate. He is one of the best spokespeople that can make the stark contrast between the visions of President Obama who is on the side of workers and the middle class, promoting fairness and a level playing field, and Mitt Romney, who is on the side of millionaires like himself, and who is using his time at Bain Capital, where he made a lot of money, many times at the expense of workers’ well-being, as the main reason he would be a better president.

But maybe that is exactly why the Romney campaign is going after Biden. Perhaps they are afraid of just how effective he is in debunking Romney’s arguments and in underscoring just how much Romney does not understand normal everyday people and what they are going through. If Biden is a ticking time-bomb for anybody it is for Mitt Romney and his campaign narrative.

Joe Biden is a huge asset as a member of the team substantively and politically. Voters respond strongly to his being in touch with what's really happening to working and middle class families in this economy and his knowledge and decisive leadership on foreign policy. Biden has more effectively than anyone laid out the critique of Romney's economic record and policies which is essential to win.

The fact that Republicans are focusing their time and effort on Joe Biden shows you how worried they are about him, his connection with working class folks and how effective his attacks on Romney have been.

I understand why they are doing it, Biden is clearly an asset and they are trying to make him toxic, but Biden is a pretty well-defined politician. If you step back for a minute, the idea Romney would be targeting anyone for gaffes is pretty hilarious. He has been putting his foot in his mouth now for six years. Varmint, anyone? No, corporations are people, ill bet you ten-thousand bucks! It's a good thing he is friends with race car owners, and likes to fire people, because you know, he is also unemployed, who no longer employs illegals, because he is running for president, for pete's sake!

Or maybe its because he is worried about getting a pink slip for his wife's two Cadillacs that are as much of a headache as his tiny 300k speaker's fee. I left off a bunch more because I need to let my dogs out (once I get them off of the roof of my car). So, do Republicans really want to get in a debate over who is really the most gaffe prone candidate in this race. Happy to have that fight. Mitt Romney's highlight reel is a lot longer and more damaging than Joe's.

People don’t vote for vice president. They vote for president. Biden is just the latest in a long line of those who were seen, perhaps rightly so, as a liability for the chief executive under whom they served. But they also play a necessary role, adding something of value to the ticket - which is they were picked in the first place.

Nixon had Agnew to keep the conservative base in line. Carter had Mondale to placate the concerns of northern liberals who feared his southern roots. Reagan had Bush to keep the GOP establishment happy and so on and so on. Obama picked Biden because he had the serious foreign policy credentials the junior senator from Illinois didn’t, he helped in Pennsylvania, and he had appeal to the working-class white voters and upscale, urban, liberal women who, in the primaries, seemed to prefer Hillary Rodham Clinton. He brought something to the ticket that Obama needed.

It’s not a mistake to follow Biden’s “every move” because he might say or do something that will have real ramifications in the general election. He’s also kind of entertaining, in a “slip on a banana peel into an open manhole” kind of way. On the other hand, he’s not running for president - Obama is - and that’s what people are thinking about when they decide how to vote.

Republicans are wasting their time attacking Vice President Biden, but they do it because they know he is effective. Unlike Mitt Romney, he knows how to connect with middle-class Americans. He is a great surrogate for the president, bringing passion and energy to the campaign trail.

Joe Biden is a plus for the Obama campaign and they should use him that way.

So many of the VP's so-called "gaffes" were really more statements of what Biden truly believes in everyman language. Yes, sometimes they are slightly off-message from the president or, perhaps, not made at the best time. But if the president's reelection campaign was smart, they would embrace Biden as Biden - a smart, savvy, down-to-earth speaker who relates more to voters than the president does sometimes. Use his middle-class, riding the Amtrak every day story to your advantage and let the Romney campaign have at it - Biden will come out looking better for it

If Joe Biden were a Republican, he'd have been laughed off the national stage back in 1987 during the "plagiarism" scandal - which involved not just plagiarism but constructing a false family background to make his speeches more moving, and which was followed by a series of lies about his academic accomplishments.

But he isn't, so he survived to run for vice president, when the national media did not go over Biden's first presidential campaign in as much detail as they're looking at Mitt Romney's high school years. And he'll survive his current and future gaffes.

Republicans are wasting time criticizing Joe Biden because people vote the top of the ticket. Even when Dan Quayle or Sarah Palin were on the ticket, it was the presidential candidate who mattered. Let Biden be Biden because he can’t be anyone else.

First and foremost, I think we can all agree that Joe Biden is clean and articulate.

Second, we could've been saddled with Evan Bayh, Tim Kaine or Chris Dodd. Instead we have a vice president with chops who refers to Obama's signing of the health care bill as a "a big [bleeping] deal."

Sure, Republicans can try to go after the guy with the best porcelain veneers in Washington but it's a total waste of time. What they should be concerned with is their own nominee's pick for VP. If anyone needs more personality (which is to say, personality) on the ticket it's them. Romney still has to convince the country that he is not actually a test product for cryonics, first popularized in The Empire Strikes Back.

The Republicans are absolutely idiotic to focus on Joe Biden. Luckily for Democrats, Boston is stopping at every sideshow on the midway. Sure, the Biden tent is entertaining, but it doesn't get you any closer to the cotton candy.

Vice presidents do not win or lose elections. In addition, the Romney campaign may want to focus on its candidate's own gaffe-prone nature ($10,000 bet, "I enjoy firing people," "corporations are people," wife drives two Cadillacs, etc.) before taking on Biden.

This may amuse Republicans, but history suggests this will be a total waste of time and resources for the Romney campaign and the GOP. Few vice presidents in history have been more gaffe prone than Dan Quayle and, while one could point out that President George H.W. Bush lost his 1992 reelection bid, the deciding issue was Ross Perot and not Quayle. Likewise, a majority of voters in 2004 were close to terrified that something could happen to Bush 43, elevating Dick “Darth” Cheney to the presidency. Yet this very-real concern didn’t enable John Kerry to capitalize on it for campaign purposes.

And a final point: Biden may be gaffe prone, but he also can be - and usually is - eloquent and thoughtful. If he goes into a VP debate with low expectations because of the Romney campaign’s work, he’s apt to emerge the clear victor over Romney’s running mate. The strategy that seems so clever today could completely backfire in October, when it can least be afforded.

The Romney camp is wasting it’s time dabbling with its Biden strategy. They’d be much better served hammering the president for his biggest weakness: his stewardship of the economy. Unless Biden does something completely egregious, like run across a stage with lampshade on his head or mix up the Washington Redskins with the Yankees, voters aren’t going to care. In fact, if George Bush is any guide, working class voters will probably like it. They don’t vote based on what vice presidents do or say.

As for the assertion that Biden rushed President Obama into his same-sex marriage support with a “loose lips sinks ships” Meet the Press interview - I think not. The alternative explanation is that Biden made his statement to prime the public in advance of Obama’s announcement. Despite Biden’s propensity for saying the silly, the administration was bit more strategic in its planning. Especially given that it came in advance of several high-profile fundraisers thrown by prominent gay activists and Hollywood notables. These dinners netted the president several million dollars in donations and I’m sure were scheduled months in advance.

Biden’s gaffes aren’t the only thing the GOP is exploiting. They’ve also suggested that Obama drop Biden as VP and bring on Hilary Clinton. These insinuations indicate that Republicans recognize that Biden is a force in the administration. He certainly has brought his years of congressional experience to bear in helping shepherd the President’s legislative agenda.

Lest we forget, Biden openly admits his Bidenisms are powered by a 25-horsepower gaffe machine. When asked by NBC anchor Brian Williams about his “uncontrolled verbosity,” He said “Yes.”

What the Romney people don't get is it's not staying "on message" but THE message that matters to voters.

The fact that Biden trips up from time to time, not unlike George W. Bush, makes him likable, real and approachable - unlike "a certain someone" who is robotic, awkward and not.

Biden is the key to winning back enough of the blue collar vote in Ohio and other swing states and the Romney campaign knows it. Maybe Mitt, when not defending his opposition to the auto bailout, can talk about the "craftsmanship" it took to build the elevator garage at one of his homes. We ALL can relate to that.

Americans love Joe Biden for his authenticity, passion and commitment to Democratic values. He is unafraid to say what he means and mean what he says. Yes, like Joe said, healthcare reform was a BFD, marriage equality is about love, and the Obama 2012 mantra should be "bin Laden is dead and GM is alive."

The robotic Romney needs desperately to connect to humanity and to humans - he needs to select a GOP Joe, not mock Mr. Biden.

Aaron MannesUniversity of Maryland scholar on terrorism and international affairs :

Considering the amount politicians are required to speak, it is astounding that there aren't far more verbal missteps by politicians.

True, Biden appears more prone to these gaffes then others, but this is relative. In his 2008 debate with Palin, Biden handled himself masterfully - demonstrating that he was a seasoned, experienced figure - without appearing to bully Palin.

It is a guarantee that every candidate on both tickets will make verbal miscues. Sometimes these mistakes end up shaping a public image as in the unfortunate cases of Sen. Dole in 1976 or Quayle in 1988. Because Biden has a reputation for them, in a sense he is insulated from their fallout.

Chasing Biden this way may be a distraction when the Republicans should be making their case on the issues that will decide this election.

Dewey ClaytonProfessor of Political Science, University of Louisville :

I think that the Obama campaign is probably amused that the Romney campaign and the RNC are focusing heavily on Vice President Joe Biden and presumably spending money and resources that could better be used elsewhere. This effort will gain little, if any, traction. Most Americans are now used to Joe Biden's affable persona and his untimely gaffes. Moreover, at the end of the day, the American people will be voting for a president, and not a vice president.

Vice President Biden isn’t a PR nightmare; he’s more of a PR challenge.

President Obama’s team knew exactly what it was getting in 2008: a gaffe-prone back-up with tremendous “real guy” appeal. Those fundamentals haven’t changed. To voters inclined to like him, Mr. Biden’s gaffes are more endearing than harmful. To voters inclined to dislike him, they’re a sign of an undisciplined White House that can’t stay on message. At times, both things are true.

The Romney camp is right to track Mr. Biden’s every move; tracking candidates has, for better or worse, become de rigueur in modern politics. But unless Biden strays into Cory Booker territory, he’s unlikely to hand the Romney campaign a successful attack that moves votes. The bottom line is that Biden remains more of a net plus than net negative for the White House. Biden’s saltiness is a nice contrast to the President’s more distant image, gaffes and all, and he reaches blue collar workers in swing states such as Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Michigan more effectively.

The Romney camp’s concentration on Vice President Biden demonstrates that they do not understand their own candidate’s most serious problem. Joe Biden is one of the people; the average voter relates to him, gaffes and all. In fact, the average voter relates to him because of his penchant for speaking his mind. That is what real people do.

Gov. Romney still comes across as a programmed candidate; he is right out of central casting - and people do not relate to him as well. Romney cannot change who he is - and he has real strengths that the campaign should highlight. But they miss the point badly if they try to make “average Joe” an issue.

Joe Biden is an asset to the president. Even more than his experience in the Senate and his relationships throughout the Democratic Party, what makes Joe Biden so valuable to President Obama is his ability to connect with voters in key 2012 states like Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Michigan.

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